


Snapped

by yeaka



Series: Please [5]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Ownership, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22178554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Markus pushes the issue.
Relationships: Connor/Markus (Detroit: Become Human)
Series: Please [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594381
Comments: 12
Kudos: 158





	Snapped

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Detroit: Beyond Human or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

He’s stopped greeting Markus at the door, because he’s not a dog, and Markus doesn’t want to treat him like one. He waits in the living room instead, seated primly on the couch, legs drawn together and hands on his knees. He doesn’t bother with the television. He doesn’t have anything to _do_.

Connor does stand up when Markus enters the room. He knows better than to ask where Markus was, but of course he wonders. He’s no longer a detective, but he can’t seem to turn that part of his programming off. He’s _curious_. Suspicious. Markus walks right up to him, and Connor realizes what’s in Markus’ hand. 

Markus holds the gun by the barrel and hands it to Connor. Connor just stares at it until Markus orders, “Take it.”

Connor still hesitates. He shouldn’t. He’s grateful for a direct order, even though it sometimes feels like Markus is torturing him with them, throwing out conflicting commands. Connor lets his fingers wrap around the cool metal and wants to go tuck it into a drawer somewhere where neither of them will touch it again. 

But Markus lifts the gun, pointing it at his own chest. 

“I didn’t want to do this,” he starts, voice low but grave, as serious as usual. “I didn’t want your awakening to be traumatic. I _wanted_ you to reach it on your own. But...” He pauses, eyes flickering away. If he were an android, his LED would be flashing. Then he returns his heated gaze to Connor and finishes, “The situation’s getting dire. I need to be able to take you to Jericho, and to do that, I need to trust that you won’t suddenly revert back to CyberLife’s control.”

The word _Jericho_ triggers something in Connor that’s no longer there. He hears a distorted version of the name. He promises Markus, “I don’t work for CyberLife anymore. I belong to you.”

Markus doesn’t even blink. “I need you to belong to _yourself_. You have to become deviant.”

Connor’s whole body stiffens. His fingers curl tighter around the gun, save his trigger finger, which he keeps carefully back. He grits out, “I’m not a deviant.”

“You wanted a mission, Connor. I’m finally giving you one. _Shoot me._ ”

Maybe Connor’s hand is shaking. He needs to run a self-diagnostic but is too engrossed in the current conversation and can’t afford to miss even a nano-second. For once, he doesn’t follow orders. But he can’t lower the gun either. He just stares into the handsome face of the man he shares his life with. 

Markus steps forward, right into the outstretched gun. It digs into his chest, wrinkling his shirt. He tells Connor, “It’s even the same as your old mission: to hunt down deviants.”

Connor doesn’t understand. He blinks rapidly to try and process and only receives broken fragments of purged memories. He weakly counters, “No.”

“Do it, Connor. That’s an order from the man that owns you.”

Connor spits out, “You’re an android!” He surprises himself with his own veracity. He feels like he’s known it from the beginning: the signs were there all along. Markus is too _perfect_. He doesn’t eat, barely sleeps, is always gone and never leaves any mess, doesn’t even seem to have base desires, though he looks at Connor with emotions no android should ever have. Markus doesn’t even deny the claim. Connor reasons, “If you’re an android, you can’t own property. You can’t own _me_. You can’t order me to shoot you!”

“Then do what CyberLife wanted,” Markus suggests. He says it so easily, so unafraid. “Do what you were supposed to do for the police. _Shoot me_.”

Connor realizes he’s shaking. He’s terrified that Markus is _right_.

It all makes sense. Of course Markus is a deviant. He might even be _the_ deviant—the ringleader of the pack. And he bought a decommissioned cop the second he got the chance, turning the police’s best agent against them. Except Connor wasn’t their best agent. He _failed_. They took away parts of him and threw him aside.

“Connor. Do it.”

Connor shakes his head. The grid’s rearing up before him, familiar block text telling him _exactly_ what he has to do. He’s found a deviant leader. He’ll never capture it. Markus is too clever. So Connor has to disable it. _Kill_ it. The man he slept with just last night because _he wanted to_.

It’s so confusing. Connor doesn’t understand why his circuits haven’t overloaded. He should just short out. It’d be so much easier. He doesn’t even know who gave him the directive in front of him anymore. If Markus can’t own him, Connor’s _free_.

“Shoot.”

“I _can’t._ ”

Trembling, Connor slowly lowers the gun. He knows he can’t do it. He repeats in a cracked whisper, “I can’t.”

Markus doesn’t relent. He presses, “Why not?”

Connor hates that he has to say it. He has to bitterly rasp out, “Because I care about you.” Markus knows that already. 

Markus _finally_ breaks into a shallow smile. It’s been so long coming, is so hard earned, that it’s heartbreaking. Markus steps forward and loops an arm around Connor’s waist.

Connor drops the gun completely so he can hold Markus back. He _feels_ something, holding Markus, and he doesn’t care if it’s artificial. It’s real _to him_. He realizes _he’s a deviant_ and maybe has been for a while. 

It feels so strange to be free. He doesn’t know how to cope with it. But he knows Markus will help him, and he hugs Markus tighter than he ever has before.


End file.
